So in the next few months I will end up being a player in an adventure path. The GM hasn’t decided on which one but it looks like Kingmaker isn’t going to be it. I have the first chance in my gaming career to play a character from level 1 to 20. I know the APs stop about level 15 or 16, but he can work up something for the last few levels. I have a ton of ideas running through my head and I would love to see how some people deal with some of these concepts. I would prefer to see how they would work out at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 (or other reasonable levels).

We will be allowed to use all the Paizo products for Pathfinder. I may be able to talk him into a third party product if it is balanced and fits the concept, but I’m not going to hold out.
Character Concepts:
1. Gunslinging warrior on the back of a flying dinosaur (saurian druid looks like an interesting choice)
2. Monk with temple sword and flurry…but effective in and out of combat. I also want to rage
3. Character that dimension doors through combat, a lot like night-crawler
4. Wizard or sorcerer that fills the role of martial character, possibly a switch hitter
5. Dog the bountry hunter, actually uses animal-like abilities (scent, hearing, etc).
6. Gnome tinkerer riding an invention into battle (I’m thinking something like a summoner)
7. Master of disguise: can function in and out of society to blend in, disappear
8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity
9. Heavily armored magical tank of blasting
10. Someone that always has an answer. In other words, skills, skills, skills, and knows how to aid the party with tactics.
11. Caster that channels magic and actually weakens himself to the point of possibly falling unconscious or even dying. He would have to be able to channel more energy than normally allowed. If anyone remembers the channelling rules from the 2nd Edition Player’s Option: Spells and Magic, this is what I’m talking about.

#3 is one I've been struggling with. You're going to need the dimensional agility chain from UC to do this properly. As to where you get the teleporting, there are a few options:

1. Monk. You don't get to teleport until level 12, but you get to do it a lot. 2 ki points per d-door, and you can earn those back if you go with hungry ghost.

2. Shadow-dancer. You can start teleporting at 9th level, but you get very little of it - only 40 ft./day at 9, maxed at 160 ft./day at 13. So it would be a limited trick. Flavor-wise, this is probably the best fit for your nightcrawler concept when paired with fighter.

3. Teleport-school wizard. You get limited teleporting starting at level 1, and dimension door as a 4th-level spell at 7. But then you have the issue of being a wizard in melee...

4. Summoner or Magician (Bard). Summoner gets d-door as a 3rd level spell, so level 7. Magician can use expanded repertoire to grab it off the summoner list at 7 as well.

None of these are ideal, but I think the monk would be the easiest to realize. You just have to wait until 12 to get to play your concept...

I played #10 in a campaign about a year ago. He was a Half-Elf vanilla bard with Oratory, Dance, and Comedy as his versatile performances and 14 Int. His skill list was ridiculous, though he sacrificed 1 point/level to use favored class (Wizard) in conjunction with Arcane Training to be able to use arcane scrolls and wands without fail. Super high UMD and Spellcraft let him use divine items with rare failures, as well as the very occasional arcane item not on the bard or wizard spell list.

He always had more consumables on his person than the rest of the party combined, and was like a swiss army knife of cheap magical items, potions, poisons, alchemical stuff, and random gear. He got Leadership at level 7 and quickly set up a Trading/Mercenary company to multiply his social influence and provide a little side income as well.

Crowning moment of awesome was when a party member lost her cool while interrogating a prisoner in the local inn and bludgeoned him to death. My PC cast Expeditious retreat and a quickened Vanish so as not to be seen at the scene of the crime, then sprinted to his HQ and grabbed some goons to act as "cleaners." Hasted back to the inn with goons, cleaned up the whole mess, bribed the innkeeper, then sweet-talked the guards while the goons dumped the body in the river.

Some of your ideas only work well at low level.
Some of your ideas only work well at high level.
Only 3 of them have good play across all levels of play.

Low Level
2. Monk with temple sword and flurry…but effective in and out of combat. I also want to rage (You really need to read what rage dose. If you left off rage it can be effective across all levels. Monks are still monks and very hard to make very well.)
4. Wizard or sorcerer that fills the role of martial character, possibly a switch hitter. (This only works up until level 8. Past that point you are a spell caster that is less effective then a full caster. Magus is a martial character that can cast. You want a caster that can be a martial character.)
9. Heavily armored magical tank of blasting. (See #4.)

High Level
3. Character that dimension doors through combat, a lot like night-crawler (This takes allot of time to build up to. And the monk can do it some what. The over all effectiveness is limited.)
8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity (Only effective if you have enough down time.)
11. Caster that channels magic and actually weakens himself to the point of possibly falling unconscious or even dying. He would have to be able to channel more energy than normally allowed. If anyone remembers the channeling rules from the 2nd Edition Player’s Option: Spells and Magic, this is what I’m talking about. (Over all really good to read about. For game play it is one of the worst.)

All levels
6. Gnome tinkerer riding an invention into battle (I’m thinking something like a summoner)
7. Master of disguise: can function in and out of society to blend in, disappear (Rogue in to master spy. This is not a bad way to go. Over all can be effective, but it can be really bad. Depends on the AP.)
10. Someone that always has an answer. In other words, skills, skills, skills, and knows how to aid the party with tactics. (Bard and well your a bard. There one of the best classes if you don't mind playing support for every one else.)

I left #1 out. With what it dose it's a one trick pony. And it's one trick can not be used in all, but three of the AP's. And they are Kingmaker, Serpent Skull, and Jade Reagent. So your not doing kingmaker so that leaves two where it could be effective.

From there it really depends on what AP your playing in. Read the players guide befor making a character! This will fix most of the problems people have with AP. Making a character before you even know what your getting in to is a bad idea. As most AP's are deadly. They also require a set of skills for each one. They cover allot of the special skills/ability's you will need for the AP in each players guide.

I would let these ideas brew, but when you learn what Adventure Path you will be playing, read the Player Guide and see if there are flavors that fit the Path and what is described there. It will help you focus your creativity. (I GM most of the time and when I get a chance to play, I too get bombarded with a rush of character concepts.)

Blink Dog, 6+ levels of Urban Druid (Alter self at will). You can maintain humanoid form all day, and you *BAMPH* around a lot. Bipedal Creature from Advanced Bestiary is an easier Blink Dog fix, but it's 3PP.

Lots of really interesting ideas. The bloatmage is a bit creepier than I was considering but it should be able to do what I want. It goes a little further too, which is always nice. I'll look it over in more detail.

I hadn't considered horizon walker for the D-Door ability. I'll look at it more and see if it works for me. I was trying to figure out how I would do a teleporting mage in melee. I thought it might be interesting. I'll look at that too.

I know that some character concepts can be harder than others. I don't believe that a concept only works at low levels but not higher levels. I can see the limitations for some builds at low levels.

Character Concepts:
1. Gunslinging warrior on the back of a flying dinosaur (saurian druid looks like an interesting choice)
2. Monk with temple sword and flurry…but effective in and out of combat. I also want to rage
3. Character that dimension doors through combat, a lot like night-crawler
4. Wizard or sorcerer that fills the role of martial character, possibly a switch hitter
5. Dog the bountry hunter, actually uses animal-like abilities (scent, hearing, etc).
6. Gnome tinkerer riding an invention into battle (I’m thinking something like a summoner)
7. Master of disguise: can function in and out of society to blend in, disappear
8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity
9. Heavily armored magical tank of blasting
10. Someone that always has an answer. In other words, skills, skills, skills, and knows how to aid the party with tactics.
11. Caster that channels magic and actually weakens himself to the point of possibly falling unconscious or even dying. He would have to be able to channel more energy than normally allowed. If anyone remembers the channelling rules from the 2nd Edition Player’s Option: Spells and Magic, this is what I’m talking about.

1. Halfling Mysterious stranger with either Leadership (for an awakened Pteranadon) or The Eldrich Heritage feats with Sylvan Bloodline (gain animal companion at level 3 that doesn't really level up for a while.)

2. Rage + flurry? Martial Artist Archetype does not require you to be Lawful. You can go half elf and do a 1/1 split of the classes, or just do a couple levels of barbarian and take some extra rage feats later.

3. SmiloDan has a good point, but I would go Ranger 3/Ninja 3/Horizon Walker 3. Do the Ninja first and get vanish so you can have some of the flavor early.

4. Lots of possibilities here, My personal recommendation is Dragon Disciple of which I have a guide, but Magus isn't bad either.

5. Half Orc Ranger can get scent and high tracking capabilities.

6. Your basic Vanilla Summoner would do great for this. I had one like this actually, and he spawned all of his summons out of a hole in his head like the kid had in FLCL. Used the same glyph that is on the battle robot that followed him around too. It was fun!

7. No one can do this better than the Master Spy. Use Ninja to enter into the prestige class for the synergy between the charisma Ki pool and the massive amounts of skill points.

8. Alchemist+Greater Alchemical Simulacrum+Cooperative Crafting Feat. The same can be done with wizards, but Alchemists make Simulacrum cheaper, and once you get high enough level, those crafting checks become negligible.

9. Again, I would point you toward Dragon Disciple, as they can get really high Natural Armor bonuses and a crossblooded with orc or elemental can really dish out the damage, getting a +2 per die inflicted.

10. The Alchemist/ Mindchemist is about the greatest for knowledge skills, getting double their Intelligence bonus on them, so you can do really well with being an elf and taking the breadth of experience feat, and being able to get a +12 or so on all your knowledge skills at level 1 without investing any skill points at all. +16 if you do. +20 if you got your cognagen going.

11. Bloat mage is really the way to go with this one. It fits pretty much exactly what you are looking for.

In conclusion, you can do several of these at once. Possibly 1 and 5 ranger, 2 and 3 Martial artist, 3-4 and 9 Dragon Disciple, 4 and 8-10 Alchemist.

There may be some other combinations around, so keep pondering it. Your decisions will last a while.

I would let these ideas brew, but when you learn what Adventure Path you will be playing, read the Player Guide and see if there are flavors that fit the Path and what is described there. It will help you focus your creativity. (I GM most of the time and when I get a chance to play, I too get bombarded with a rush of character concepts.)

+1

I struck gold on a lucky shot. We are playing Curse of the Crimson Throne. I wrote up a ranger before I got the players guide. Sure I will become a Hippogriff riding ranger.

If it was me I would look at the list you have and start looking for the background and personality of your character. What they are like. Once you know what AP you will be on then you have a few options that will really help you fit into the campaign in a very meaningful way both ability, rp wise and there is likely a role your character plays in the plot.

First off, congrats on the AP! It is super fun to build a character up through the levels, but as others have said, if you choose wrong, you can end up a side-kick in many situations. The general advice I would give is to not dump stats, try to get some diverse skills - especially knowledge, and be useful in combat even if you can't do your main ability.

First off, if you want to teleport around a lot, there is the travel domain for clerics, and the conjuration specialization wizard also gets a similar ability at around level 8. (Conjuration wizard is also a great summoner!) A blink spell also gets you a similar effect in ways.

Disguise simply requires a disguise self, alter self, or Hat of Disguise, and a trait that allows bluff to be a class skill. This can be had easily, and probably won't come up more then once every few levels.

Take a look at making a half-orc bard. You can kick ass with a great axe or falchion, you have skills off the charts, you are a great face, full caster +UMD, plus there are several orc related things that can give you natural attacks, scent, bonus on fire spells, etc. Perhaps best of all, everyone else in the party will love you, because no matter what they benefit from your character.

Finally, there are some APs that are far more favorable then others to some character concepts. You might want to find out which AP you are doing, before committing to a character concept.

1. Gunslinging warrior on the back of a flying dinosaur (saurian druid looks like an interesting choice)

2. Monk with temple sword and flurry…but effective in and out of combat. I also want to rage
3. Character that dimension doors through combat, a lot like night-crawler
4. Wizard or sorcerer that fills the role of martial character, possibly a switch hitter
5. Dog the bountry hunter, actually uses animal-like abilities (scent, hearing, etc).
6. Gnome tinkerer riding an invention into battle (I’m thinking something like a summoner)
7. Master of disguise: can function in and out of society to blend in, disappear
8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity
9. Heavily armored magical tank of blasting
10. Someone that always has an answer. In other words, skills, skills, skills, and knows how to aid the party with tactics.
11. Caster that channels magic and actually weakens himself to the point of possibly falling unconscious or even dying. He would have to be able to channel more energy than normally allowed. If anyone remembers the channelling rules from the 2nd Edition Player’s Option: Spells and Magic, this is what I’m talking about.

Thanks for the help.

I only read a few of the other posts. Here are my thoughts on how to realize it:

1.
2. Easy with the skills available to the monk. Rage is not quite so easy to get, but either level dip into a casting class or I believe the savage skald should be able to provide you with it (performance). Otherwise qinggong monk might be possible if your dm allows you to pick the spell instead of one of the standard spells.
4. Half-orc draconic bloodline. You get the orc weapon proficiencies, and you directly go into dragon disciple which will make you into a melee warrior. Alternatively, the arcane archer route is also an option.
3. Inquisitor with travel domain. Put lots of skills in stealth, just to be sure.
5. Half-orc with scent, ranger or inquisitor class.
7. Urban druid with thousand faces, or any class with alter self such as bard.
8. Well, pretty much any caster class can do that. Just maximize spellcraft, e.g. with skill focuses and such feats, and get the crafting feats, particularly CWI.
9. First idea would be eldritch knight with lots of still spells, level dip into fighter provides the armor proficiency. Alternatively, oracle of fire with lots of elemental spell feats, or arcane duelist focused on blasting spells (more difficult, but armor is there).
10. Bard with bardic knowledge. Look to the pathfinder chronicler as well, it is very support-oriented, got lots of skills, performances and knowledges. Consider Figher Tactitian 5/Pathfinder Chronicler xx. The class is underrated IMO.

3. Ranger (Guide 6)/Horizon Walker 3. By ECL 9 you have the ability to use Dimension door and qualify for dimensional agility. By ECL 13 (Ranger 6, HW 6, Barbarian 1) you also get Dimensional Assault & Dimension Dervish, immunity to fatigue & exhaustion and Rage as a class feature (which you can use a round at a time whenever you want as you`re immune to fatigue & exhaustion).

This may or may not be RAW so run it by your GM first.

The Horizon Walker is a fantastic prestige class for Adventure Paths and here`s why - you should have an idea of what kind of terrain you will be in for much of the campaign and can select terrain dominance accordingly. You only get 3 terrains to dominate and you want Astral for dimension door, desert if you plan on taking any barbarian levels and the 3rd should be the most common terrain you will find yourself in. Dump all of your favoured terrain bonuses into this terrain and you will have massive bonuses to initiative, perception and attack & damage rolls while in this terrain (attack & damage will also work on creatures from that terrain even if you don`t fight them in that terrain). This bonus will also stack with the Guide archetypes `focus`, which is note worthy because it won`t stack with the standard `favoured enemy` bonus.

I`m playing this right now (not there yet only ECL 7) but it`s been an effective build thus far. Build your Guide as a `switch hitter`(as per treantmonks guide to rangers) and you will excel as an archer and in melee. Because you`re a ranger you`re competant out of combat due to decent skills and class skill list.

8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity

This you would best be an oracle. There is a knowledge build in there that allows you a +30 on int based checks. I don't remember the specifics but with that you could craft anything of any level at double speed no problem. This would also allow you to be the know'er of everything because you can sit and meditate for 3 rounds and then get an extra +30 to you knowledge check.

My friend is playing this build in a game I play, all I know is if it was in a game I was running it'd get a big stamp of "Hell no"

I reiterate the earlier advice to go read the player's guide for whichever AP it is BEFORE you make your character. A character that would work brilliantly in one might be a miserable failure in another. Reading the player's guide will let you make sane choices about what kind of character to make and how to build it, without spoiling anything.

I have a couple months still before the campaign starts. I still need to finish mine. I will definitely be reading the guide to the AP before I settle on anything. I am looking for advice on some concepts that sound really fun. If I have enough workable concepts, I won't feel bad if I can't play one because it doesn't fit the campaign. I will still have other options. I've gamed long enough to know that players are capable of coming up with some interesting ways to accomplish their concepts. Unfortunately, I GM most of the time so I only get to see a concept at a single point instead of how it plays over time.

I want to thank everyone for the suggestions. I love the Can-Do attitude of determined players. I know how to optimize, but I look for fun over optimization. Obviously there will always be some optimization, but I don't need a character to be perfect at all levels of play. I just need it to be fun and as close to the concept as possible. I know that some builds require more patience than others, but that's ok. If the build takes 16 levels to be playable and the AP only goes to level 15, that isn't a good character concept. If it takes 5 or 6 levels to get rolling, that's fine with me as long as I am working toward my goal.

I'm really going to look at some of these suggestions in more detail:

1. Gunslinging warrior on the back of a flying dinosaur (this one probably looks cooler in my head than it would be in actual play)
....Druid, I don’t know if Leadership is a viable option with this GM
2. Monk with temple sword and flurry but effective in and out of combat. I also want to rage
....Martial Artist/Barbarian
3. Character that dimension doors through combat, a lot like nightcrawler
....Ranger/Barbarian/Horizon Walker
....Cleric with Travel Domain
....Wizard (Conjurer)
....Ranger 3/Ninja 3/Horizon Walker 3 (take Vanish for the theme)
....Fighter/Shadow Dancer
....Summoner (synthesist)
....Bard (magician)
4. Wizard or sorcerer that fills the role of martial character, possibly a switch hitter
....Sorcerer (orc bloodline)/Dragon Disciple
....Magus
5. Dog the bountry hunter, actually uses dog-like abilities (scent and hearing)
....Half-orc or bugbear inquisitor or ranger.
6. Gnome tinkerer riding an invention into battle (I’m thinking something like a summoner)
....Summoner
7. Master of disguise: can function in and out of society to blend in, disappear
....Ninja/Master Spy
....Urban Druid
....Bard
8. Crafter of all gear for the party, using every loophole to increase speed and quantity
....Oracle
....Wizard
....Alchemist+Greater Alchemical Simulacrum+Cooperative Crafting Feat.
9. Heavily armored magical tank of blasting
....Oracle of fire
....Sorcerer/Fighter/Eldrich Knight
....Sorcerer (crossblood orc – elemental)/Dragon Disciple
10. Someone that always has an answer. In other words, skills, skills, skills, and knows how to aid the party with tactics.
....Bard
....Pathfinder chronicler
....Fighter (tactician)
....Alchemist/ Mindchemist
11. Caster that channels magic and actually weakens himself to the point of possibly falling unconscious or even dying. He would have to be able to channel more energy than normally allowed. If anyone remembers the channelling rules from the 2nd Edition Player’s Option: Spells and Magic, this is what I’m talking about.
....Bloatmage

I can't believe how much I have to play around with. I'm always open to ideas. Like I said, there is plenty of time. I was going to buy the AP for him since he doesn't have the money. I'm looking at Serpent's Skull, Carrion Crown, or Jade Regent. I'm leaning toward Jade Regent because we want to hit level 20 and from what I've heard, it has suggestions for going beyond the AP.

Thanks again and please keep the ideas coming. I'm the kind of player that can whittle a handful of concepts down to 20 or 30 builds so this is exactly what I like.

#4 works really well with the Battle Sorcerer option from Unearthed Arcana.

Basically, take a sorcerer, increase BAB to +3/4 and HD to 1d8, possibly add good Fort saves, and reduce spells per day by 1 for each level, spells known per level by 1 (minimum 1 each time you gain access to a new spell level), and you're good to go.

We have a feral kobold battle sorcerer in the party, and he is really effective. A bit of a paper tiger, but his feral-ness gives him 3 to 6 natural attacks, and with Wraithstrike (Spell Compendium spell that casts as a swift action and resolves all melee attacks as melee touch attacks for 1 round) + feral pounce, he can really cause a lot of melee damage.

It is not really optimized, but it is quite versatile and loses only 1 BAB in 15 levels, and I believe it can hold its own in a fight.
Alternative build would be reach-focused naginata vital strike furious focus - and standard cavalier, ... :-)

I'm not a fan of psionics. It's not about anything other than I just don't enjoy them. I don't know if we're going to be able to use 3PP stuff. I don't think so because he's not a strong GM and may want to limit the options so he doesn't feel overwhelmed.

Sangalor, that's interesting. He's got a lot of potential to boost the party with a lot of options. I like that he isn't using spells and many of his abilities are Extraordinary.

I'd go for the gnome tinkerer, you are likely to find the time you need to create items - so going for item creation might be fun as long as you get GM buy-in don't go too cheesy on creating magical items.

Summoners work well although lack of spells can be an issue so go for a dip of wizard and pick up a the spells you need for creation.

This AP is lots of fun and there is a ton of GM reference material out there too.

It's been about a month since I last posted but I wanted to add that the GM has settled on Serpent's Skull as the AP. Does that change any of the advice given?

I am also seriously considering playing a Good-aligned clone of Warduke. I just need to discuss with the GM about partial armor, Damage Reduction, and crafting so I can have the stuff I want. Of course, if he lets me play CN, I might be able to have some fun with that as well.

Many have already said Bard for #10, but let me push it to Detective Bard. They get skills, drop a decently high int and he gets lots of skills. Also the Detective does not get Inspire courage. Rather it gets Careful Teamwork. To use this you spend 3 rds advising everyone on what to do and in return you get 1 hour worth of +1 to initiative, +1 to perception and +1 o Ref and AC vs traps. This gets better higher up.

I actually have a PFS one that is multi classed with an Alcemist, and am having a blast with him

I've been trying to build a bard and I just can't seem to build one that even seems remotely fun to play. I get bored building it. I don't think that I would enjoy playing one. I've been working on these characters for about a month now. I'm having the same problem with the druid and the cleric. I just find the classes incredibly dull. I know how much people love them and how powerful people claim they will be, but if I can't enjoy the process of building it, I know I won't enjoy the idea of playing it.

I also don't think I'm going to be allowed to play a summoner. The other players and GM are concerned I will have too many creatures on the board to control at once and my turns will last too long.

The spell list is very dull to me and the very slow progression with magic. I also don't really like the performance abilities. I don't play a buffing character very well. I like to be in the action instead of sitting on the sidelines giving a few bonuses. I won't turn them down if they come my way. I just don't enjoy being the one who's turn is making sure everyone else gets to do something.

Maybe a magus or barbarian with utilitarian arcana or rage powers, so you have something else to do outside of combat?

It sounds like you like to be in the center of the action, so a melee type or an active spellcaster (blaster or battlefield control or charmer/fearmonger) might be your speed.

Those are actually my two favorites. I love melee and I love evokers. I know that evokers aren't considered very powerful but I do know how to make them playable and enjoyable. My favorite character that I've ever played was a militant wizard (invoker) in 2nd edition. I don't want to play him again though (ok, I do, but I want to play something else instead of rebuilding him).

For #10, I vote Inquisitor. Very few classes are as tactically viable as the Inquisitor, imo, due to (i) Monster Lore; (ii) A judgment for every situation; (iii) bane; (iv) bonus teamwork feats (v) and a decent casting list. They get the same number of skills as a Bard as well.

Anything else I'd suggest is more or less covered somewhere in the responses of other people...

On the D-dooring through combat...I'm not sure, but I *think* that D-door, and D-door like abilities don't allow you to make an attack (or do anything, really) after you've stepped through the door and arrived at your destination. It'd kinda be like Nightcrawler if he appeared before the guy he was gonna hit, then waited six seconds for the guy to respond to his presence, and then attacked.

In terms of mechanics, the appear/disappear attack stuff is probably better done by a Ninja, or an Arcane Trickster (though not many would agree on the latter because PrCs are ewwwww...etc). Ninjas can vanish via their tricks, move about with invisibility, attack (for SA), and then disappear again. Arcane Trickster is much the same thing except they remain invisible thanks to their abilities (though a Ninja basically gets a better version of this as a capstone). Its not really a teleport...but mechanically, I don't think direct teleportation combat really works.

Also, it should be noted that Nightcrawler doesn't actually teleport...he disappears into some other plane of existence and he moves through that dimension and when he appears at the other side, it looks like he teleported....though I suppose that's really a matter of semantics...

Anyways...why I mention it is because the Ninja or Arcane Trickster build 'looks' like he's teleporting about (appearing and disappearing again via vanishing trick or invisible thief) when in reality, he's just moving about in an undetectable way.

Alchemists look like fun too. They can blow stuff up, Hulk or Hyde up for melee, and have some spells too for utilitarian goodness. Also a fun selection of skills.

I play with a dude who uses the Unearthed Arcana version of the battle sorcerer (dragon bloodline), and he has a fun combo of melee and blasting spells, and is very effective.

Even if a build isn't optomized, it can still be really fun. Maybe some kind of eldritch knight for melee and spells? Or the inquisitor, alchemist, magus, oracle, ranger, paladin, for example?

We're probably going to have an alchemist in the group. While we can both be very different from each other, there might be more overlap than we need.

I think one of the other players is going to play an inquisitor. He's new to the game but he'll do fine. I don't know what the others are going to play. I need to look at the magus again and the ranger is always fun.

For #10, I vote Inquisitor. Very few classes are as tactically viable as the Inquisitor, imo, due to (i) Monster Lore; (ii) A judgment for every situation; (iii) bane; (iv) bonus teamwork feats (v) and a decent casting list. They get the same number of skills as a Bard as well.

There is already going to be an inquisitor so I have crossed that off my list. I really had some interesting ideas but I don't want to step on someone else's toes.

Quote:

On the D-dooring through combat...I'm not sure, but I *think* that D-door, and D-door like abilities don't allow you to make an attack (or do anything, really) after you've stepped through the door and arrived at your destination. It'd kinda be like Nightcrawler if he appeared before the guy he was gonna hit, then waited six seconds for the guy to respond to his presence, and then attacked.

The dimensional X feats allow you to d-door and still attack.

Quote:

In terms of mechanics, the appear/disappear attack stuff is probably better done by a Ninja, or an Arcane Trickster (though not many would agree on the latter because PrCs are ewwwww...etc). Ninjas can vanish via their tricks, move about with invisibility, attack (for SA), and then disappear again. Arcane Trickster is much the same thing except they remain invisible thanks to their abilities (though a Ninja basically gets a better version of this as a capstone). Its not really a teleport...but mechanically, I don't think direct teleportation combat really works.

I was working on the build and I can get it to work. It just takes more effort to be as useful as I want. Looks like fighter/shadowdancer is probably the easiest way but I lose out on some of the abilities I want.

Astral Shifting (Sp): At 3rd level, the Astral Marauder can teleport once per round as a move action. The Astral Marauder is limited to teleporting 10 feet per level each day, and must teleport in 5 foot increments.
This ability replaces the standard fighter’s Armor Training 1 class feature.

Swift Astral Shifting (Sp): At 7th level, the Astral Marauder can teleport once per round as a swift action. The Astral Marauder is limited to teleporting 20 feet per level each day, and must teleport in 5 foot increments.
This ability replaces the standard fighter’s Armor Training 2 class feature.

Sudden Astral Shifting (Sp): At 11th level, the Astral Marauder can teleport once per round as an immediate action; if this is done in reaction to an attack, there is a 50% chance the attack does not affect the Astral Marauder. The Astral Marauder is limited to teleporting 30 feet per level each day, and must teleport in 5 foot increments.
This ability replaces the standard fighter’s Armor Training 3 class feature.

Astral Spring Attack (Sp): At 15th level, the Astral Marauder can teleport twice per round, once as a swift or immediate action, and once as a move action. This allows the Astral Marauder to teleport, take a standard action (such as an attack), then teleport again in the same round. The Astral Marauder is limited to teleporting 40 feet per level each day, and must teleport in 5 foot increments.
This ability replaces the standard fighter’s Armor Training 4 class feature.

Astral Shifting Mastery (Sp): At 19th level, the Astral Marauder can teleport at will as a free action. If the Astral Marauder takes the full attack action, he can teleport between each attack as a free action. The Astral Marauder is limited to teleporting 50 feet per level each day, and must teleport in 5 foot increments.
This ability replaces the standard fighter’s Armor Mastery class feature.

The dimensional X feats allow you to d-door and still attack.
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I was working on the build and I can get it to work. It just takes more effort to be as useful as I want. Looks like fighter/shadowdancer is probably the easiest way but I lose out on some of the abilities I want.

Ah yes...that pesky UC stuff. My only concern then is that with RAW, the Dimensional feats don't cover Spell like abilities besides the Monk's Abundant Steps.

PF SRD wrote:

Dimensional Assault
You have been trained to use magical movement as part of your combat tactics.
Prerequisites: Ability to use the abundant step class feature or cast dimension door, Dimensional Agility.

So abilities like Shadowjump wouldn't work because they use abilities that function 'like' dimension door. They make at least one obvious exception case, abundant steps which suggests the ability is exclusive to the abundant steps class feature. And I haven't seen any clarifications of it...mind you, I completely forgot these feats existed so take that with a grain of salt XP

Mind you, I hardly think it breaks the game if you extend the feats to d-door like abilities as well but you might wanna bring it up with your GM just in case.

Under RAW though, both Bard and Magus can cast D-door so there's that. Also there's Monk to level 12 then doing pretty much whatever you want from there out.

I came up with an Astral Marauder archetype for the fighter that teleports a lot.

** spoiler omitted **...

Looks really interesting and certainly something I would want to work on for my own campaign. I won't be able to use non-Paizo products. Even if I could convince him that it is balanced, if I ask for this someone else will ask for something not balanced and that would make his job harder. He has a hard time telling his friends "No."